Glen Gale Park Improvements Playground and other site improvements

Milestones (anticipated project schedule by month/season)

Fall 2024: Community Engagement and Concept Design
Fall 2024 to Winter 2025: Design Development and Construction Documentation
2025-Spring 2026: Construction

Background

This project will implement improvements identified and envisioned by the North Area Master Plan adopted by MPRB in 2019 for Glen Gale park. The phase of improvements will focus on replacing the playground equipment which has reached the end of its life and does not meet current ADA requirements. The project will also identify what components of the Park’s Plan [PDF] could be implemented with available project funds including either a new half-court basketball court or a group shelter. It will also look at path improvements, adding new natural areas or picnicking spots.

Funding

Project funding for this phase of work sources include NPP20. The total available for design and construction is $672,000.00.

Park History

Name: The park was named for Samuel C. Gale, a prominent settler, scholar, attorney and realtor who donated the land to the park board. Gale was an early proponent of parks in the city and helped create one of the earliest parks near downtown at Oak Lake, which no longer exists. He initially platted parks in his real estate development in 1873, ten years before the park board was created. Gale was a leader in most business and civic organizations of his time, including the Board of Trade.

Acquisition and Development

The park was donated to the city by being dedicated as parkland in the plat of Forest Heights on July 31, 1883. Other park properties dedicated in the plat were Cottage Park, Irving Triangle and Oliver Triangle. In 1887, the park board officially requested the city council to turn over the land for park purposes and park board expenditures for 1887 include $2.80 for the “Gale tract.” The 1888 annual report includes “Gale” among other small parks in its inventory.

The Forest Heights “squares” were first included separately in the annual report inventory of 1890, which listed them as 4 acres total.

The board appropriated $2,000 for the initial improvement of Glen Gale in 1892, but that work was not done until 1894. City water was extended into the park in 1898.

The first improvements to the park were made in 1909 according to plans published in the annual report that year. The center of the park, which Theodore Wirth noted was about a foot below the street grade, was used for a skating rink and playground.

A small addition was made to Glen Gale n 1914 when the city council asked the park board to take over a small street triangle adjacent to the park.
Glen Gale at one time was provided with a skating rink and warming house, but the warming house was removed at the request of area residents in 1925.
Petitions to create a baseball or softball field at Glen Gale were turned down in 1914 and again in 1932.

A tot lot built in Glen Gale in 1968 as part of an effort to provide more facilities for children in the neighborhood was renovated in 1987. New playground equipment was installed in 2010.

Park history compiled and written by David C. Smith.

Associated Projects

Northside Greenway Project – City of Minneapolis

The city of Minneapolis intends to add street improvements that create a neighborhood greenway from 44th Ave N to 4th Ave N on Humboldt Ave N and Irving Ave N. This project originated as a community-led initiative and is called the Northside Greenway.  The greenway is identified in the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Plan and will be planned by the City of Minneapolis public works. If you’d like more information about that project please check out the Northside Greenway project page.

Mississippi Flyway Habitat Enhancement and Connectivity Pilot